Eyelet



(No Model.) v

A. MATHVISON.

' EYELET. No. 501,288. PatentedJuly' 11, 1893.

UNITED STATES v PATENT @EETQE.

ARTHUR MATHISON, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

'EYELET.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 501,288, dated July 11, 1893.

Application filed January 16, 1893. Serial No. 458,594. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR .MATHISON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Springfield, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Eyelets, of which the followmg is a specification.

This invention relates to eyelets, the object being to provide an improved eyelet whose outwardly projecting end is so protected against the effects of use or wear, that no show of a metallic color results therefrom, all as hereinafter fully set forth.

In the drawings forming part of this specification, Figure 1 is a sectional and Fig. 2 a

top plan View, much enlarged, of an eyeletembodying my improvements. tom plan view.

The eyelet-construction herein shown and described is particularly adapted for use on shoes, through which to pass the lacings, and for such use any desirable color can be given to the outer end thereof, according to the color of the shoe.

. In the drawings, a, is the tubular shank of the eyelet, and b, is the annular rim or head which, when the eyelet is attached to a shoe, is shown on the outer side of the latter. Eyelets heretofore used for this purpose have had the head thereof, or both head and shank, colored temporarily by j apanning or otherwise, to conceal the bright color of the metal (brass) Fig. 3 isabotof which they are generally made, said head being outwardly of convex form and consequ ently presenting an outer surface peculiarly adapted to have its surface Worn bright by use.

To avoid the above mentioned inconvenience, and provide an eyelet having a metal shank and head, but capable'of having its head protected from showing a metallic color after wear, and of receiving a non-metallic variable color, is the essentail object of this invention. I

' In carrying out my invention I make the head, I), of the eyelet concave, as shown in Fig. 1, instead of convex, as heretofore made, and several filling looks or anchors, c, are formed in the base of the concavity of said head, I), by punching or driving them up therein, and slightly spreading the extremity of said anchors, as shown. Into said concave, ringshaped head, is pressed, while in a heated state, any suitable plastic material, cl, which fills said head, I), and covers its exposed metallic parts, and becomes so engaged with the outside of the said anchors, c, and with the flaring outer ends thereof as at 00, that it is firmly locked to said concave ring-shaped head, and can not be displaced by any ordinary manipulation of the eyelet in setting it, or by wear. Said plastic filling, d, provides a wearing surface for the head of the eyelet whose color is unchangeable, and may be varied at pleasure, to correspond to the color of the leather of the shoe on which it may be set. Thus the unsightly, bright metallic color of rows of eyelets on a shoe is entirely avoided.

What I claim as my invention is An eyelet consisting of a central metallic tube and aconcave head, a ring of plastic material in the concavity of the head, and anchoring devices projecting from the metal of the head and entering the plastic ring but concealed by the face of said ring, all substantially as described.

ARTHUR MATHISON.

Witnesses:

H. A. CHAPIN, WM. S. BELLOWS. 

